Chapter 31. Dolly Girls
Teaser Amamizukan is in more danger of being sold than the Amars realize. Chieko brings in a new fujoshi to help with the dress making. Kuranosuke plans a fashion show. Summary In Korea, Chieko's mother discusses how she wants to sell Amamizukan and hopes that it will do those NEETs who live there good. Kuranosuke spurs the Amars forward into the next step for their plan. They are going to do a fashion show and they need to publicize. He is so confident that the "jellyfish" theme idea behind their dresses will make orders pour in that he proposes hiring a professional seamstress to make made-to-order dresses. Tsukimi immediately becomes reluctant about the cost involved. Kuranosuke calls her a pessimist and points out that if they make it after the order they'll have the money. Chieko, however, points out that it will take too long to earn money that way and they should have dresses available to sell at the fashion show. Kuranosuke protests that it would cost too much up front to go about it that way, which is when Chieko proposes a low-cost method to make them. Chieko calls another otaku friend, Nomu, who is a successful clothes maker. Chieko sings Nomu's praises while she, Tsukimi, and Kuranosuke walk to visit her. Kuranosuke decides to buy cakes to butter her up to agree to help them, but Chieko is confident that their friendship will have Nomu agree to help out in some form. Chieko continues to talk about Nomu's recent fame and success, even though Nomu herself only considers it a hobby. When they arrive and a dowdy-looking apartment complex, Kuranosuke is confused. Both he and Tsukimi are taken aback when they are all invited in and they see that there are dolls and doll clothes everywhere. Nomu blushes at being called famous, while Chieko demonstrates that her doll dresses are featured each month in a magazine. However, she turns away when being introduced to Tsukimi and "Kurako," since she has an aversion to interacting with people. They ask for Nomu's help and show her the dress and she exclaims over it, immediately making a doll-sized pattern for it. While Kuranosuke angrily tries to explain that they don't want it doll-sized, Tsukimi is charmed by how the pattern reminds her of an anatomical chart for a jellyfish. Nomu is a touch weirded out and Kuranosuke declares them all to be crazy. Shuu daydreams of Tsukimi while planning for his father's party, after the caterer states that more desserts are recommended if the party has a significant number of female guests. Instead of an overly beautified version, he's picturing her in her sweats and glasses and he presents several dessert choices for her. He blushes when in his daydream Tsukimi gushes over how nice he is. He promptly orders an excess of desserts. Nomu makes a pattern based on the flower hat jellyfish, and the others keep enlargening it to make it human-sized instead of doll-sized. Nomu hates all people, whom she refers to as "maggots," but she feels obliged to help since Chieko made a kimono for one of her dolls. However, she really likes Tsukimi's design, and wants to do a version for Blythe dolls if the Jellyfish line is a hit. Chieko promises the use of the design to Nomu in exchange for her help. With one thing accomplished, Kuranosuke tells Tsukimi at the fabric store that the next step is to pick a show venue. Nervously, Tsukimi asks for clarification on whether he means one of those shows, with beautiful women parading... because that sounds expensive. Kuranosuke agrees that it's not cheap, but he's not worried since fashion shows are being put on in any ridiculous place these days. Tsukimi suggests a number of free, accessible places available in the community, but Kuranosuke naysays them. He suggests an aquarium, but Tsukimi is suddenly distracted by the thought of trying to get models for the show. Kuranosuke immediately declares himself as the one and only model. He can do outfit changes in under 30 seconds. Besides, wouldn't Tsukimi prefer that he be the only model? Tsukimi floats away into a daydream of Kuranosuke as the Jellyfish Princess of Amamizukan. She sees pearls and jellyfish portraits everywhere. So she suggests it, caught up in the image, and then immediately regrets having had an idea so otaku-like. However Kuranosuke loves it and declares Tsukimi to be a genius. At risk of being fired otherwise, Inari arrives in Korea to bribe Chieko's mother into selling, which does not prove difficult. Characters in Order of Appearance Quotes Trivia References Category:Manga Category:Volume 6